State Senate passes resolutions opposing EPA power grab

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Senate on Thursday passed resolutions sponsored by state Sens. Tom Casperson and Phil Pavlov to oppose a study backed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that could lead to regulations on personal grills and barbecues.

The EPA has funded a University of California-Riverside student project to develop preventive technology to reduce emissions from residential barbecues.

“This effort by the EPA to examine people’s backyard barbecues is just the latest in a long string of ridiculous and overly burdensome regulations driven by and pursued by the EPA,” said Casperson, R-Escanaba, chairman of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources. “To spend time on issues such as this is a gross waste of taxpayer money and agency time. These resolutions are a signal that we the people are fed up with this sort of nonsense from government agencies, and it needs to change.”

Pavlov agreed.

“It is now football season, and that means tailgating. The EPA appears eager to pour cold water on this great American pastime,” said Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources. “By funding this project, the EPA is searching for a solution to a problem that does not exist and demonstrating unnecessary concern over the impact of backyard barbecues on public health.”

“In the face of record national debts, annual budget deficits and other profound problems the country is facing, surely the federal government can better use our resources than on a study of grills and barbecues,” Pavlov said. “This overreach by the EPA is a waste of time and money.”